Opinion Brief: Friday, July 22, 2016

Tonight’s Opinion Brief is brought to you by the Humanitarian Coalition, working together to save more lives during international humanitarian disasters.
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Good evening, subscribers. Socialism and pacifism weren’t always such close cousins. The Spanish Civil War saw large numbers of North American leftists sign up to fight fascists; they weren’t all driving ambulances. And yet the federal New Democrats have maintained a broad anti-combat-mission policy that hasn’t really changed with the emergence of terrorist entities like ISIS — entities which are, for want of a better word, quasi-fascist.

The coming NDP leadership campaign should offer an opening to debate that approach, says Michael Petrou. He says it’s time for New Democrats to ask themselves whether it makes sense to oppose murderous movements that persecute women, gays and visible minorities while ruling out armed response. “The NDP talks a lot about solidarity. And on some issues — refugees or foreign aid, for example — it supports policies that reflect its slogans. But it has a blind spot regarding what fighting fascism really means.”

And the CDA’s Eric Lerhe does the math to debunk the notion that warships built in Canada cost many times what they would cost if they were assembled elsewhere. “When apple-to-apple comparisons are used, the chance of foreign ships costing five to eight times less than Canadian ones approaches … zero.”